Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol Elegantly appointed spacebus - every seat has a...

Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol


Elegantly appointed spacebus - every seat has a viewscreen!

Ample photo opportunities

A real live planetary Scientist will be your guide!

FREE universal translator Ð99.95 Latinum Bars or Federation Credit equivalent

Void where prohibited

Close approach to Sol during a spectacular flare

N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998



Fly by each of Sol’s 9 planets

(and selected moons)

See all the major natural wonders of this Star System

Optional 4-day extension on Terra (home of strange

U-Manz creatures)N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998

Quark’s Holiday Tour Part I: Sol overview; the outer planetsQuark’s Holiday Tour Part I: Sol overview; the outer planets

Origin of Sol and its planets

Properties of Sol

Paired planets

Pluto - Charon

Jovian Planets

Neptune

Uranus

Saturn

JupiterAs seen by U-manz during a

lunar eclipse on Terra

Solar Corona


The Outer Planets of SolThe Outer Planets of Sol

PlutoNeptune

Uranus

Saturn

Jupiter


Average size star

Located in Milky Way Galaxy

Formed by collapse of

cold stellar nebula

Radiates energy equal to

5 million tons of matter

each second

A middle-aged star - 4.6

billion years old

Will burn 4 billion more

yearsN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999

SOL - THE STAR Quark’s Holiday Tour SOL - THE STAR Quark’s Holiday Tour

CORONA

Prominence

Radiativeinterior Convective

Zone

Core(Fusion)Sun

Spots

Houghton-Mifflin - Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999

STELLAR NEBULAE Quark’s Holiday Tour STELLAR NEBULAE Quark’s Holiday Tour

Disk is gaseous ring withoxygen and nitrogenDisk is gaseous ring withoxygen and nitrogen

Primitive solar systems condense from stellar nebulae like this one.

Condensation Hypothesis:A. Primitive solar nebula

B. Nebula flattens, forms rotating disk,

matter concentrates in center

C. Disk cools, forms particles that grow

into planetesimals - composition varies

with temperature/distance from star

D. Some planetesimals grow large enough

to attract others. These collide and

coalesce to become primitive planets.N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999

ORIGIN OF PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour ORIGIN OF PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour A

B

C

D

PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour PLUTO - CHARON Quark’s Holiday Tour

Approaching the outer edge of the Solar System: Pluto and its moon Charon (“Karen”).

Charon is half as big as Pluto - one of two paired planetary systems around this star.

Pluto

Charon



Charon is bluer than Pluto:

they have different surface composition and structure

Pluto has bright highlights:

smooth reflecting surface layer

Pluto and Charon always keep the same face towards each other

A

a

a

a

a



Pluto’s atmosphere: Nitrogen; some carbon monoxide, methane

Usually frozen, except when closest to Sol in its irregular orbit

Pluto’s density: 2.1 g/cm3

more than Jovian planets (0.7-1.7)

less than terrestrial planets (4-5.5)

Pluto’s composition: probably about 70% rock, 30% water ice

Charon

Pluto


JOVIAN PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN PLANETS Quark’s Holiday Tour

Low densities - 0.7-1.7 g/cm3

All have rings, although only Saturn’s are spectacular

All have multiple small moons

Most have small rocky cores and dense hydrogen-rich

atmospheresJupiter

Saturn

NeptuneUranus


NEPTUNE: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour NEPTUNE: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour

Hydrogen and helium,

minor methane

Blue color caused by absorption of red light by methane

Rapid winds confined to bands of latitude and huge storms or vortices

Fastest winds in the Solar

System: 2000 km/hr

“Great Dark Spot”

“Scooter”

“Little Dark Spot”

NEPTUNE: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour NEPTUNE: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour

Barely visible rings are dispersed clots of dirty ice

Unusual twisted structure of ring

Outermost ring has three brighter arc-shaped clumps - no one knows why


NEPTUNE: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour NEPTUNE: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour

Triton is the largest of 8 known moons

Triton is probably about 75% rock, 25% water ice

Its surface is relatively young, with few impact craters

(Neptune’s 7 other moons are small and not very interesting.)


NEPTUNE: Triton Quark’s Holiday Tour NEPTUNE: Triton Quark’s Holiday Tour

Volcanically active today(like Terra, Venus, Io)

Ice Volcanoes erupt liquid nitrogen, dust, or methane compounds from beneath the surface

Eruptions driven by seasonal solar heating


URANUS: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour

Hydrogen (83%), helium (15%), methane (2%) Zoned into bands (visible in false color image)

True color is blue-green due to absorption of red light by methane in upper atmosphere

False color image shows brown haze or smog over the south polar region


URANUS: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour

Uranus has multiple faint rings

of dark dust, ice, and boulders


URANUS: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour

A dozen small dark inner moons

5 large outer moons - named from the writings of Shakespeare and Pope, rather than classical mythology


URANUS: Miranda Quark’s Holiday Tour URANUS: Miranda Quark’s Holiday Tour

Half water ice, half rocks

Mixed up surface:

Heavily cratered terrain

Grooves, valleys, cliffs

Smooth plains

Caused by repeated

upwelling of melted ice?


SATURN Quark’s Holiday Tour SATURN Quark’s Holiday Tour

Sol’s second largest planet

Oblate shape - smaller across poles than equator

Shape due to rapid rotation and fluid, low density state

Radiates more energy into space than it receives from Sol


SATURN Quark’s Holiday Tour SATURN Quark’s Holiday Tour

Interior - rocky core, surrounded by layers of:

liquid metallic hydrogen

molecular hydrogen

Overall density: 0.7 g/cm3

(less than water)


SATURN: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour

SATURN: Atmosphere Quark’s Holiday Tour

Hydrogen (75%), helium (25%),

traces of water,

ammonia, methane

Zoned atmosphere is sometimes marked by

huge storms

The Great Red Oval consists of gases that absorb more blue and violet light than the rest of the atmosphere - possibly brought up from deeper in the atmosphere


SATURN: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour SATURN: Rings Quark’s Holiday Tour

Most spectacular

ring system in the Solar system

Rings are ice particles, silt

to boulder size Saturn with two of its moons

Tethys

Dione


SATURN: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour SATURN: Moons Quark’s Holiday Tour

18 named moons

(and at least a dozen more unnamed ones)

Most are small, icy,

low density Impact craters are visible on Dione


SATURN’S MOONS: Titan Quark’s Holiday Tour


Size: larger than Mercury, slightly smaller than Mars

The only satellite with a significant atmosphere

Thick, opaque orange smog of nitrogen (>90%), argon (6%), traces of hydrocarbons (methane, ethane)




Surface:Light and dark areas -

continents, oceans,

impact craters?

Oceans of liquid hydrocarbons

Hydrocarbon rainN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998

JUPITER Quark’s Holiday Tour

JUPITER Quark’s Holiday Tour

Largest planet of Sol

Twice the combined

mass of the other planets

Colors of outermost layers due to chemical reactions of trace elements like sulfur

Colors correlate with cloud’s altitude: blue lowest, then browns and whites, reds highest


JUPITER: Energy Quark’s Holiday Tour JUPITER: Energy Quark’s Holiday Tour

Still undergoing gravitational contraction

Gives off twice as much energy as it receives from Sol

If a little larger, would have become a star itself


Hydrogen (90%),

helium (10%),

traces of water, ammonia, methane

High velocity winds confined in wide bands of latitude. Winds blow in opposite directions in adjacent bands.

Complex vortices (storms) at boundaries, turbulent to great depths and driven by internal heat.

JUPITER: Atmosphere

Quark’s Holiday Tour

JUPITER: Atmosphere


Great Red Spot


JUPITER: Atmosphere


JUPITER: Atmosphere


Great Red Spot

A high pressure region whose cloud tops are higher and colder than surrounding regions

Has persisted for over 300 years, according to historic records of the U-manz (or Terrans)


JUPITER: RingsQuark’s Holiday Tour JUPITER: RingsQuark’s Holiday Tour

Fainter, smaller, and darker

than Saturn’s rings

Mostly rock dust rather than ice


JOVIAN MOONS Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN MOONS Quark’s Holiday Tour

16 known satellites:

12 small moons

Four large “Galilean” moons:

Io Europa Ganymede Callisto


JOVIAN MOONS: Io Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN MOONS: Io Quark’s Holiday Tour

Io’s surface is unique - very young lava flows of sulfur compounds, heated by Jupiter’s tidal action

Lake of molten sulfurSmooth surface lacks impact craters N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998

JOVIAN MOONS: Io Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN MOONS: Io Quark’s Holiday Tour

The most volcanically active body around Sol

Surface covered with calderas

and lava flows of

silicates and sulfur

Some eruption

plumes are

300 km high


JOVIAN MOONS: Callisto Quark’s Holiday Tour JOVIAN MOONS: Callisto Quark’s Holiday Tour

Callisto has an icy crust over a salt-water ocean

Heated by radioactive decay

A magnetic field is generated by circulation of the salt water


JOVIAN MOONS: Europa and Ganymede


JOVIAN MOONS: Europa and Ganymede


Ice tectonics rule the surface:

Ridges and rafts of water ice formed when meltwater erupted, then froze

Heated by Jupiter’s tides

Rocky mantle of silicate rock with small metallic core

Europa: ice ridges

GanymedeN. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998

Quark’s Holiday Tour Part II: the Inner Planets of SolQuark’s Holiday Tour Part II: the Inner Planets of Sol


Mars Venus

TerraMercury

Jupiter

Composition - All have:

metallic core

siliceous mantle

basaltic crust

Relatively dense: 4 - 5.5 g/cm3

Different history from Jovians

All shaped by:

1. Impact cratering

2. Volcanism

3. Tectonism

4. Erosion and deposition

Houghton-Mifflin, Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999

Geology of Terrestrial Planets


Geology of Terrestrial Planets


Terra (“Earth”)

Venus

Mars

Luna

(“Moon”)

Mercury

A planet’s evolution is controlled by how long internal heat lasts

Luna (Earth’s Moon) is small, became quiet 3 b.y. ago

Terra (“Earth”) is large, stilll hot, remains dynamic today


Evolution of Terrestrial Planets Quark’s Holiday Tour Evolution of Terrestrial Planets Quark’s Holiday Tour

Venus - carbon dioxide

Earth - nitrogen/oxygen

Mars - carbon dioxide

Venus - runaway greenhouse effect

No plate tectonics

Too much Solar energy

Earth - plate tectonics recycles oxygen

by subducting and remelting

oceanic lithosphere and sediments

Carbon dioxide trapped biogenically

Size and mass just right to maintain

internal heat that drives tectonic cycle

Mars - water, oxygen locked up in rocks

No plate tectonics

Too small to hold dense atmosphere

Houghton-Mifflin, Dolgoff, 1998; N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1999

Atmospheres - Venus, Earth, Mars Quark’s Holiday Tour Atmospheres - Venus, Earth, Mars Quark’s Holiday Tour

Crater Density and Age of SurfaceMany craters on older, original lunar crust (anorthosite brecciated by repeated impacts)

Fewer craters on younger crust of basalt in the lunar mare (dark colored basins)

Crater density provides relative dating for lunar surfaces


LUNA Quark’s Holiday Tour LUNA Quark’s Holiday Tour

B

A

C D

b.y. ago

Cra

ter

Den

sity

(a

rbit

rary

un

its)

TERRA: Unique! Quark’s Holiday Tour TERRA: Unique! Quark’s Holiday Tour

Oxygen-rich atmosphere

Over 70% surface is water

Plate tectonics recycles

oxygen and water

Only known life in Solar System (but is it intelligent?)N. Lindsley-Griffin, 1998

Quark Presents: Holiday Tour of the Star System Sol Elegantly appointed spacebus - every seat has a...

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